Parasitic weeds are ruthless freeloaders, stealing nutrients from crops and devastating harvests. But what if farmers could trick these invaders into self-destructing? Scientists at UC Riverside think ...

At first glance, Orobanche ramosa looks like an interesting blossoming plant, one that could add a unique flair to flower arrangements. But it’s a parasitic weed that attaches to roots, sucks out ...

Strigolactones are a class of carotenoid‐derived phytohormones that play a pivotal role in regulating plant architecture and mediating interactions with both symbiotic organisms and parasitic plants.

Joining forces through the Parasitic Plant Genome Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, UC Davis Professor John Yoder and colleagues are identifying the genome-wide changes that have ...

Have you seen that orange thread-like stuff draped over the top of plants in a salt marsh? It’s a parasitic annual plant called dodder, Cuscuta species. Dodder is capable of photosynthesis, but it ...

Most plants are autotrophs because they make their own food by photosynthesis. But for every rule there is an exception. Some plants are non-photosynthetic and parasitic, obtaining their food through ...

Researchers have discovered the mechanism that drives the parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris to insert organs into plants after making contact with the hosts. The parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris ...